The unsettlingly deep waters of Black Salt Games’ acclaimed Dredge are about to get murkier. Publisher Team17 has announced the release of “The Iron Rig“, a major paid expansion that will drag players back into the game’s eerie, Lovecraftian world on August 15th.
Priced at $11.99/£11.99, The Iron Rig promises to be a substantial addition to the Cthulhu-meets-angling adventure. It will incorporate new content across every location from the core Dredge experience, challenging players to assist the shady Ironhaven Corporation in establishing an offshore drilling rig base of operations.
However, this industrial endeavor will unwittingly awaken something primordial slumbering in the abyss below. A mysterious dark liquid will begin seeping into once-safe areas, twisting the environment into new hazardous zones. Players must carefully study how this ominous inky tide impacts the local aquatic life.
Their efforts will add over 50 new aberrant fish species from the depths to Dredge’s encyclopaedia. Higher tiers of equipment, gadgets, consumables, new characters, world events, and narrative lore will also be included.
According to director Brian Clarke, “The Iron Rig takes the core Dredge experience and submerges it in a strange new layer of meta-cosmic horror, making even familiar areas into unsettling new frontiers. We can’t wait for players to reel in these primordial monstrosities from the abyss.”
To celebrate the release, Team17 is also launching the “Dredge Collector’s Edition” for PS5 and Switch. This $99.99/£99.99 physical package contains the base game, all DLC, exclusive artwork, a 10cm replica talisman, map, art book, message in a bottle, doubloon coin, and more.
When it first released in March 2022, Dredge instantly hooked players with its uniquely unsettling premise of fishing for cosmic monstrosities in a Lovecraft-inspired realm. Critics praised its rich atmosphere and tense, psychological horror undertones.
By plunging players even deeper into that disturbing maritime world, The Iron Rig expansion looks primed to reel in both new and returning adventurers starving for more spine-tingling angling action. Just be prepared to confront whatever tentacled, sanity-shattering horrors lurk in the abyssal trench below.